Innehållsförteckning för September 2016 från Boating NZ

Diesel-electric hybrid vessels have been around for over a decade – Greenline launches and sailing cat manufacturer Lagoon are among its early adopters. In both cases the electric propulsion is auxiliary to the main (diesel) engines. Configurations vary – from diesel gensets powering electric motors directly, to a battery bank charged from the main engines or gensets. To my mind these offer the worst of both worlds. You have the significant added weight and cost of an entirely separate electric propulsion system sitting alongside a perfectly serviceable diesel set up, sharing the shafts and props. The sales pitch would have you believe that, at manoeuvring speeds, the joy of gliding through the marina silently, emitting no exhaust and virtually no vibration is worth the extra dollars and weight. There’s the…

“Night Hawk II is the first newly upgraded Caribbean 35 Mk III to reach these shores.” Caribbean’s 35 Mk III was released in 2010 and in June 2012 I reviewed the first boat to arrive in New Zealand for this magazine. Night Hawk II is the first newly upgraded Caribbean 35 Mk III to reach these shores and it will star at the Auckland On Water Boat Show later this month. Exclusive New Zealand Caribbean agent Scott White has equipped Night Hawk II for his own use. He’s specified a deluxe Simrad electronics package that reflects his interest in gamefishing. He has worked closely with Advance Trident Ltd for many years, installing Simrad electronics into new and used Caribbeans. LUXURY INTERIOR The most immediately noticeable upgrade to the new vessel…

It’s not often I get sent a catamaran to review in a bag. The bag is unremarkable with sturdy handles, solid stitching and a nice mesh detailing. The cat that lies neatly folded in the bag, on the other hand, is truly remarkable. It is a small boat that is already revolutionising the international inflatable yacht tender market with its innovative design and attention to detail. The inflatable Takacat 260 Sport is one of the more popular models in the extensive Takacat range. Its popularity is largely due to the fact that it’s the perfect size for an inflatable tender which integrates the easy, lightweight portability of a roll-up inflatable with the tracking, speed and stability of a RIB. The Takacat range is the brainchild of Auckland entrepreneur and engineer…

Flagship named top dealer TEAM FLAGSHIP NEW ZEALAND secured the title as top dealer for the second boat show in a row, outdoing the Aussies at the Gold Coast Marine Expo and Sydney International Boat Show. The team expects great things from the Auckland On Water Boat Show later this month where they will exhibit a range of new vessels, both power and sail. These include a Riviera 5400 Sport Yacht, a new model 52 Flybridge and a 525 SUV. Yachts include the Grand Soleil 46-LC, GS-43 and two models from DuFour: the 460GL and 412GL. R Marine Flagship sales@flagshipmarine.nz www.rmarine.nz Mercury’s lightweight 9.9hp MERCURY MARINE'S NEW 9.9hp two-stroke is an ultralight, compact and portable engine which provides exceptional power. Weighing in from just 26kg (57lbs), the new 169cc model…

“Lxurious and stylish, an excellent performer and pleasingly functional. This remarkable turn of events happened last year when Jeanneau used the Cannes Boat Show to flag its plans for a new Jeanneau 54 (LOA 16.5m) – a smaller sister to its existing 64 and 57 models. Punters responded with enthusiasm, and filled up the first year’s order book before you could say “Jeanneau”. Since then some 40 of the new models have been delivered worldwide, with one making its Southern Hemisphere debut at the recent Sydney International Boat Show. I was lucky enough to accompany local Jeanneau agent Lee Condell on her maiden sail – delivering the boat after the show at Darling Harbour to the Pittwater marina – about 35 miles up the coast. There are two things you…

After the bomb FILM FOOTAGE RECENTLY declassified by the US National Security Archives provides an inkling of the damage suffered by sacrificial ships after the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests – code-named Operation Crossroads. The footage was captured from surveillance aircraft that over flew the bomb site and shows devastated warships – many of them Japanese vessels captured at the end of WWII. Many of the ships sank. Keen to establish exactly what kind of damage an atomic bomb could do to a heavily protected warship, the US Navy positioned 95 ships around the lagoon. It anticipated a few dents in the hulls, and expected to wash the ships afterwards and tow them away for further experimentation. Instead, it witnessed the horrific power of the bomb, and began to…

Strong winds propelled Manouch Moshayedi’s supermaxi Rio 100 across the Pacific to set a new Pacific Cup Fastest Passage record. With an elapsed time of five days, two hours, 41 mins and 13 seconds, Rio 100 knocked two hours off the record set in 2004 by Robert Miller, whose 139-foot Mari Cha IV finished with an elapsed time of five days, five hours, 38 minutes and 10 seconds. Since 1980, the Pacific Cup has been sailed from San Francisco Bay to Hawaii every other year, and since 1988 the finish has been at the warm and welcoming Kaneohe Yacht Club on the island of Oahu. Rio 100 sailed a course slightly above the rhumb line for the entire race, taking advantage of breezes fed by the well-behaved Pacific High as…

For many year 12 or 13 school pupils, the call to a university is loud and clear; others can’t wait to pick up tools and put their practical skills to work. For these students, the Schools to Work transition programme, a scheme jointly supported by Ministry of Education and funded by the Tertiary Education Commission, is a well-structured step towards a relevant career. It’s also helping to recruit the next generation of marine and composites industry apprentices. Schools to Work enables students to work, for example, two days a week on an approved, industry training pre-apprenticeship and attend school as usual the other three days. The allocation of time is flexible and ranges from running a minimum of six weeks to the entire school year. Some students work full-time at…

My first encounter with the Hauraki Gulf was as child. I grew up in Hamilton, a long way from sea, but when I was young my father and grandfather built a simple bach at Maraetai – complete with long-drop and a rusty-coloured rain water supply from the corrugated iron tank. I remember getting up before dawn, rowing out in our old dinghy and throwing out a net to catch fish for breakfast. When I was a teenager, my father decided to take up boating and we spent many holidays sailing around Gulf, right out to Great Barrier Island and down to Whangamata. One of the advantages of a trimaran is that you’re very low to the water; I remember sunfish lazily swimming past and lots of sharks. I spent hours…

Out of the blue my 12-year-old son Oscar suggested I help him buy a drone. “How much is it?” I asked. The one he wanted was $1,000. I said if we were buying something together, let’s rather buy a big boy’s toy – like a boat or a classic car or a hot rod – or maybe go on a trip to somewhere like Disneyland. I would help him to achieve that – but not to buy a toy that would just get broken. The next day he showed me a list of boats he had found on Trade Me – starting with a $17 million superyacht! But among the options he’d found was an unfinished 18.2m launch sitting in a shed in Tauranga. She was a Don Webb design.…

“Polyethylene has many advantages for boatbuilders.” It’s been years since I’ve stepped aboard a Mac roto-moulded polyethylene (PE) powerboat, let alone reviewed one. But then it’s been a while since Mac Boats has released a new model. The Mac 470 Sportfisher is just that: a new addition to the Mac Boats range that falls neatly between its 420 and 570 models. The Mac 470 incorporates Galloway International Limited’s latest design ideas and is quite a step up from the early boats I tried years ago. At 4.7m long, it’s a manageable runabout that’s easy to handle and doesn’t require too much horsepower. Like most other boats in the Mac range, the 470 Sportfisher has wraparound moulded pontoons, sealed and foam-filled for buoyancy. The floor is Nautilex vinyl non-slip covered marine…

“...her overwhelming appeal is the way her design lends itself to stylish entertaining.” There are many attractive, interesting and innovative features on the Aquila 44 – and while they all add up to an impressive vessel, for me her overwhelming appeal is the way her clever design lends itself to stylish entertaining. She will accommodate a sizeable crowd across her spacious foredeck, large cockpit and saloon – and an expansive flybridge. And there’s an excellent “flow” between all these areas. I caught up with the cat at the recent Sydney International Boat Show, where she drew plenty of admiring visitors. A sister ship is headed to our Auckland show later this monh. Be sure to visit both the Show and the Aquila. First, some background. Aquila cats are built in…

The Antipodes Islands rear from the Southern Ocean like steep rock punctuation marks from a rumpled sheet of grey water. Altogether they form a rugged, cliff-bound landmass of about 20km2 – roughly the size of Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Located some 820km south of Timaru, the tussock-capped tops of the islands host thousands of Antipodean wandering albatross which go there to breed, other albatross species, endemic snipe, pipit, penguins and two parakeet species (Antipodean and Reischek’s). A total of 150 insects from 12 orders and 20 arachnids have been recorded from the Antipodes Islands. Nine species were new to science. Of the insect species 17 percent are thought to be endemic. But the bane of this pristine ecology is mice, the only alien mammal – about 200,000 of…

AOWBS has traditionally been the event where boat builders and importers launch new products. This year is no exception, with new models from manufacturers like Sealine and Axopar, Rayglass, Maritimo, Riviera, Extreme, Roger Hill design/Pachoud Motor Yachts/Kingfisher Boats, Bill Upfold/Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders, Grand Soleil, DuFour, Ocean Super Sports, Beneteau, Jeanneau, Whittley, Takacat, OC Tenders, Ultimate Boats, Motayak, Smuggler Marine, Stabicraft and more. Equipment, services and marine electronics suppliers also take the opportunity to introduce new products and announce new agencies. With over 180 exhibitors, the show encompasses a huge range of yachts, launches, powerboats, dinghies, tenders, jet-skis, paddle boards, kayaks and other watercraft, as well as offering marine services, marina sales, marine engines and electronics, and diverse chandlery and fishing products. Here’s a taste of what show visitors can look…

1. Which sail training ship was commissioned in 1986? 2. What was the name of New Zealand’s entrant in the 1986-7 Louis Vuitton Cup? 3. What was so unique about the boat at the time? 4. Who was her skipper? 5. 1986 saw the fourth edition of which yacht race? a. Fastnet b. Sydney Hobart c. Coastal Classic d. Auckland Suva 6. Which Olympic yachting gold medallist was born in 1986? a. Barbara Kendall b. Tom Ashley c. Jo Aleh d. Polly Powrie 7. Which cruise ship struck rocks and sank in the Marlborough Sounds in February 1986? 8. In what position did Sir Peter Blake’s Lion New Zealand finish the 1985-86 Whitbread Round the World Race? 9. In 1986 the HMNZS Monowai became the first Royal New Zealand Navy…

“That bloody handicapper, that was our race! The useless bugger doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, look at that, we’ve gone UP again since the last race. We should have won!” How many times have we heard this complaint in the bar after a Saturday or Wednesday night club race? How many times has it been us complaining or arguing the toss after the event? Well, who is this bloke who keeps ruining your perfect sailing and why does he do it? Firstly, ‘he’ is not usually just one person, not necessarily a ‘he’ and not necessarily even a person. Secondly, it depends what type of handicapping you’re talking about. As it turns out there are basically two types of ‘official’ yachting handicap methods and at least one more…